I've been tinkering with a new program that gives me information without starting applications or switching windows. It's a simple toolbar that is attached to the top of the screen, and the information is made up of plugins.

Yes, this looks very useful. If you want better feedback you might consider making an alpha release available for preview. I guess your idea is that you'd publish the plugin API once it's stable, so that others can implement plugins for this application as well?

2Jake78If it will be released as free I can always try to convince Ultima Prime to have it in his project (if you've got nothing against it) TC UP has similar tool called StatBar but this one is pretty outdated so UP is willing to "take" another one.

I'm glad to see that there is interest. When I started building it, I never intended to release it but then I was convinced by a family member. Before I do that though, I have to fix 2 big bugs. But I will definitely let you know when it is ready!My first intention was only to have different timezones and currency information in an easily accessible place... and hardcode it. But then I thought I might want more in the future, so I built it with plugins instead. There are limitations on what it's able to show... It can show images, labels and buttons. Then the plugin can show whatever menu or form it wants.

One thing I didn't demo in the video was the X at the far right. When left clicked it will call the regular Windows shutdown dialog, and if it's right-clicked it will give you a menu with different options, such as standby, logoff etc.

I'm glad you like it, I for one can't live without it anymore. But I guess I'm biast ;-)I have now implemented multi-monitor support, I'll upload it tomorrow after a little more testing. I unfortunately had to change a little with the configuration files, so you will have to re-add the plugins. I'm getting closer to what i want in the config management, and therefore there will be fewer "re-addings" in the future. I hope it's not too big of an inconvenience.

I have released 0.1.0.2 which has multi-monitor support, but unfortunately I have broken Vista support by doing this. I thought I would still release this version since most people are still running XP. I will try to fix this asap...I have also made configuration files changes and plugin name changes and because of this, it's best to uninstall the older version first and remove the config files to avoid error messages.The config files are located in 'Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Topbar'.If you want to keep the plugin settings, you can rename topbarConfig.ini to topbarPlugins.ini.

The bubble is there for two reasons... one is to enter setup if there is no more empty space on the bar due to having alot of plugins loaded. And the second is for multi-monitor setup. If you click and hold the mouse button on the bubble it will release from the desktop and go in to a move mode. You then drag it to another monitor and release it there.

Here's an idea i have been playing with for a standalone program but it would make a perfect addin for the information bar.The idea is to let you create progress bars for tasks or events.An event progress bar item basically just lets you set a start and end date and shows the progress torwards that event (you might even use it to show your remaining expected lifespan), or if you had option for repeating events the progress within the day, month, year. Does that make sense?The task progress bar item would just be a bar you could adjust manually.